Sad submarine tale Gonic man remembered for losing his life on the Thresher … on his birthday

By Conor Makem

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

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Courtesy photo
Wayne Wilfred Lavoie

GONIC — On April 10, Gerine Lavoie was scrubbing the floors of her Oak Street home in preparation for her husband’s 28th birthday party. He never made it.

It was 1963 and her husband, Wayne Wilfred Lavoie, had just been transferred to the USS Thresher (SS 593). Gerine had driven him to work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard the previous day.

“They called me on the phone and told me the submarine was missing and was presumed lost. It was a complete shock,” Gerine recalls. “They knew it was gone, but they had to evaluate everything. The doctor came and gave me something to sleep, but I don’t remember sleeping much. I had five small children.”

The Navy eventually sent casualty officers to meet Gerine and confirm that Wayne had perished on his birthday along with 128 other personnel. The nuclear powered submarine sank 8,400 feet below the surface, killing all on board.

Second child Brenda was only 5 at the time.

“My mom came from a very large family and my aunts and uncles were there for us. We just had a great big, wonderful family that filled the gap,” Brenda recalls. “He was sorely missed. I think when you’re that age, you believe your dad is invincible, there’s no way he’s dead. He had a concussion and was coming back any day.”

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Courtesy photo
Gerine, Wayne and his mother, Dot Lavoie, enjoy a beautiful day in this undated photo.

Gerine and Wayne were high school sweethearts, both graduating in 1953 from Spaulding High School in Rochester. They were married at St. Leo’s Church in Gonic in 1955. Wayne always referred to her as “Jerry.”

“His birthday was in April and mine was in May,” Gerine says. “He was very well liked. He was a high school athlete, played baseball, basketball and football. They didn’t have hockey at Spaulding at that time.”

Nicknamed “Moose,” he was also president of the student government. He was a commanding figure, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds when he began service on the Thresher.

A 1963 Rochester Courier, written shortly after the sinking, quoted Gerine as saying, “He was a submariner, through and through. It was his career and he loved it. He used to talk about joining the Navy even in our going-around days at Spaulding High School.”

Wayne was a member of the Shamrock basketball team in the City Church League and was active in 4-H activities, serving as counselor when he was only 16. During his nine years in the Navy, he was awarded the Navy’s Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the China Service Medal.

Gerine remarried a year and a half after the disaster. She and her second husband, Warren “Bud” Ranagan, had a son, James, together, but divorced after 18 years. Now she spends her winters in Florida and summers in Shapleigh, Maine. She made a special early return for a ceremony in Kittery, Maine marking the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Thresher.

The event, held April 6, took place around a newly raised 129-foot flagpole in the center of Memorial Circle on US Route 1, which stands as a permanent memorial to the 129 men who perished in the accident. More than 314 contributors donated $138,000 to the Thresher Memorial Project Group for the symbolic memorial.

Gerine and her children, most of whom attend the Thresher Ceremony every year, were all there for the special 50th anniversary. Her children created a memory board and brought it to the event. Gerine didn’t know too many people at the event as Wayne had transferred from the Albacore just weeks before the Thresher disaster. But she did become friends with a few wives who occasionally got together for support after the ordeal.

“There’s always some talk about Wayne,” Gerine says. “You start a new job and you talk about it.”

Brenda still has fond memories of her father.

“He’d get mad at me for calling him Wayne. He’d say, ‘That’s not my name.’ I remember being chased through the house. I remember waiting for him a lot, usually a couple weeks at a time or sometimes six months at a time.”

She adds that her father’s passing left a hole in everyone’s life, that she and her siblings always longed to “have our dad.”

Son Joseph Lavoie retired from the Navy after 27½ years, but still works at the Navy yard. Gerine’s other children are Linda Durant (who works at Spaulding High School, where the couple met), Brenda Kessler, Karen Varney, Cynthia Lavoie and James Ranagan. Linda was 6 years old when her father died; Brenda, 5; Karen, 4; Joseph, 2; and Cynthia, 6 weeks.